Miss Hardy
by protector91
Summary: Amazing Spider-Man 2 spoilers will be present. Felicia Hardy has taken over Oscorp in the aftermath of Electro's rampage. She thinks she can make the company a legitimate business, but is getting in way over her head?
1. Bad Luck

**A/N: I might be overall mixed on The Amazing Spider-Man 2, but I did love everything involving Oscorp. As such this one shot (which might evolve into something more) came to mind about what I think could happen next regarding some plots that weren't fully fleshed out. I'm 99.8% sure this won't happen, but hey you never know. Think of this as a post credit sequence for The Amazing Spider-Man 2.**

Donald Mencken cannot think of any possible words to describe what has transpired since the city blackout. He finds "a mess" too mild of a description. The same thing goes for "a catastrophe". He thought that Harry might cause trouble from the minute he took over Oscorp and yet he had to grit his teeth and accept the upstart as CEO for the time being. He knew it would only be a matter of time before Harry messed up somehow and when he did, Donald would be there to remove him from power. If only he had moved faster and framed him before the young Osborn learned of Oscorp's innermost secrets.

Now not only is the company facing scrutiny for the numerous amounts of property damage Max Dillon caused, but Harry's personal hand in the death of the Gwen Stacy woman only added fuel to the fire. He denied any involvement with her death, but the word of Spider-Man tends to carry a lot of weight these days. The fact that Harry laughed like a mad man as the police dragged him off to Ravencroft did not help his case either.

Whatever his involvement was, it nevertheless caused a multitude of problems for Oscorp including losing the backing of several stockers just as the board feared. It has been less than two months and yet the legal repercussions just kept coming with no signs of ever ceasing. Now all Donald wants to do is go home, relax with a bottle or two of scotch, and forget about the day's drama.

He enters his home and wastes no time heading for the kitchen when he notices the cabinet to his wine glasses hanging slightly open. He scratches his head and walks over to it.

_It's probably nothing. A servant probably forgot to shut it is all, _he thinks.

"Good evening, Donald," a voice greets him.

"Who's there?" Donald asks turning his head to find the source of the voice.

"Who do you think?" The light in the next room switches on, illuminating Felicia calmly seated with a glass of scotch in her hand. "Hope you don't mind me sampling some of your scotch. Never had a chance to taste something this expensive before."

Donald enters the room and stops in front of a chair, but does not sit down.

"What are you doing here, Felicia?" He asks.

"That's Ms. Hardy to you," she sternly corrects him.

Donald was instantly taken aback by Felicia's response. In practically every board meeting she was present at, she barely spoke and if she did it was only when someone else spoke to her. Whatever brought about this change in her attitude, Donald would not allow himself to appear intimidated. He cleared his throat and collected himself.

"How dare you take that tone of voice with me…and how did you get in my house? I have a good mind to call the police this instant."

"I have my ways and I wouldn't call the police if I were you, especially after you hear what I have to say," Felicia advises.

"Just who do you think you are?"

"I think I'm the new CEO of Oscorp."

Donald does not laugh very often, but he feels some snickers creeping up his throat.

"You think I'm joking don't you?" Felicia asks.

"Yes," Donald responds. His laughs just seconds away from breaking through.

"If I recall correctly, Harry distinctly told the board that you all worked for me because you worked for him."

"And if I recall correctly, you DISTINCTLY heard me fire Harry, so you have no claim to whatever powers you think you're entitled to."

"I beg to differ." Felicia sets down the glass of scotch and holds up a flash drive.

"This not only holds security recordings of Harry declaring you all work for me, but also all the evidence needed to convict you of covering up Max Dillon's accident and how you used it to frame Harry and remove him from power. Let's not forget that the frame up resulted in Harry releasing Max from Ravencroft to obtain what he desperately need, which also resulted in Max's rampage throughout the city. Basically every. Single. Death is on your hands. I'm sure the police would have a field day with this information should they ever discover it."

"You're bluffing."

"I don't bluff."

Donald looks at the flash drive then wrenches open the nightstand drawer next to him, but finds it empty.

"Looking for this?" Felicia asks holding up a gun. "Sit," she commands and he obeys.

"Good boy," she says with a cheeky smile then points the gun at him. "I think you should know that if anything happens to me, and believe me, people WILL know if anything happens to me, the copies of the files on this drive Mr. Smythe made will fall into police hands."

"Why the Hell would Smythe help you?"

"Something about how much he hates you and wishes he could slay you or something like that. I'm not sure why he'd use a verb like 'slay'. That's kind of an odd word choice."

Donald eyes the flash drive again and wipes away some sweat from his forehead.

"What do you want?" Donald dejectedly asks.

"…did you just ignore everything I said? Oscorp has a new CEO now and her name is Felicia Hardy."

"Why would you want to run this company? That little stunt Harry pulled is costing Oscorp millions from the astronomical legal repercussions."

"I know, but that's just going to make me stepping up as CEO seem even more plausible as you obviously can't control the situation at hand. Don't worry. I'll fix Harry's mess," Felicia promises then pockets the flash drive. "I'll expect your resignation within the week." Felicia turns off the lights. "Good night, Donald."

"She can't do this. She just can't," Donald says to himself running a hand down his face.

"I can and I already have," Felicia corrects him once again. Donald looks up and almost jumps at Felicia's eyes illuminated in the dark.

"It'd be in your best interests to not cross my path after you resign. It'd be bad luck for you," Felicia threatens.

She exits the room and leaves Donald alone with his thoughts. When he first entered his home he thought that "cataclysmic disaster" might serve as an accurate description for the fallout of Harry's actions. Now even those words seem like an understatement. He grabs Felicia's unfinished glass of scotch and downs the whole thing in one gulp.


	2. The Spotlight

Felicia always wondered what it was like to be in the spotlight. To have a crowd hinge on every word you said. She smiles at the multitude of cameras snapping pictures of her as she steps up to a podium.

Donald resigned from the board and of course the other members did not take the news well. As long as Felicia possessed the flash drive, however, they could do nothing, but grit their teeth and follow her orders as the new C.E.O.

She took over Oscorp three months ago, but waited until now to call this press conference to announce the shift in power. The last thing she wanted was to jump the gun on the announcement and then have something go wrong. Much to her surprise and eternal relief, nothing did. Now all she needs is to get the press on her side and she would be home free.

Felicia does not worry, however. She's observed enough press conferences to know what to say and have the audience eating out of the palm of her hand. The first question asked, of course, dealt with Harry.

"Harry Osborn is no longer affiliated with Oscorp in any shape, way, or form," she responds. "We are a legitimate business now."

The second she says that she hears a snicker. Her eyes seek out the source of the laughter and spot a photographer. He sees Felicia watching him and pretends to cough. He looks roughly just out of high school with boyish good looks. She notices a Daily Bugle Press Badge clipped to his shirt and she silently sighs to herself. Felicia never cared for the Daily Bugle for a variety of reasons such as their endless persecution of Spider-Man.

"Miss Hardy?" She hears the same reporter say. Felicia's breath catches in her throat as she realizes she lost her focus. She seeks the reporter back out and clears her throat.

"I'm sorry. Can you please repeat your question?"

"I asked, what happened to the weapons he used the night of the city black out?"

"We've had all weapons, including the recovered suit used by Aleksei Sytsevich locked away within Oscorp until further notice."

Felicia sees another reporter's hand go up and points to her.

"Why not destroy the weapons? If Oscorp is supposed to be legitimate now, that seems to be a logical course of action."

"Just because a mad man got his hands on our technology doesn't mean that it can't be used for good. But as I said, the technology is under lock and key for now."

Some people, and by some people Felicia instantly thinks of Donald, might consider it foolish of her to admit that the weapons had not been destroyed, but better to be open about it now than have someone uncover the truth and cause a huge scandal. Besides, the board members can't blackmail Felicia if she has no secrets.

The questions continue to pour in and Felicia answers them without missing a beat. The press continues to eat up her answers about the future of Oscorp and the photographers can't seem to go a minute without taking a picture. That is with the exception of the guy from The Daily Bugle. Felicia did her best to not look annoyed at the expressions he makes every time she answers a question. She does not want anyone to snap a bad picture of her.

* * *

Peter fights desperately to not laugh during the entire press conference. Maybe he's read one too many comic books and that's why he's hesitant to believe that the corrupt corporation that created not one, but four super villains, can't change due to a shift in leadership. Miss Hardy appears innocent enough, but Peter knows for a fact that looks can be deceiving as he learned from dating Gwen.

She looked harmless enough at first glance and then she goes and runs over Electro with a stolen police car…Gwen. Peter looks up and takes a silent gasp at the podium. He sees Gwen, radiant as ever, standing there instead of Felicia. He can hear her begin her graduation speech and feels a lump forming in his throat. He's only listened to it once, but the words stuck with him like he does to a wall when he crawls up it. He owes it to Gwen to never give up again on keeping the city safe; no matter what the cost. He takes a few more photos and then just as quickly as it started, the press conference ends.

Peter aims his camera for one last shot of Felicia when he feels a light tingle in his head. He jerks his head around to locate what set off his Spider Sense, but nothing about anyone in the room seems out of the ordinary. Then again appearances can be deceiving. He looks around a few more times then feels his Spider Sense slowly calm down.

He makes a mental note to keep an eye on Felicia once she's left the building and puts his camera away.

* * *

Felicia enters her apartment feeling very sure of herself. There wasn't a single question she couldn't answer and aside from the guy from the Daily Bugle, everyone looked like they were on her side.

"Hello, Felicia." Felicia gasps at the unexpected voice and turns her attention to the kitchen. She spots a man dressed in black taking something out of her refrigerator.

"Who are you?" She asks.

"Allow me to introduce myself. I am Gustav Fiers. I am an…associate of Harry Osborn," he answers while taking a sip of a water bottle he took from Felicia's refrigerator.

"Harry never mentioned you…wait. How the Hell did you get in here?" She asks reminding herself of Donald much to her chagrin.

"Never mind that, Miss Hardy. I only wish to convey my congratulations on how you handled the press conference. Mr. Osborn will be pleased to know his company is in such capable hands."

"He's using you to keep tabs on me?" Felicia asks.

"In a word, yes," Gustav responds. "Especially considering what the man whose job you took is capable of doing."

"What did you do to Donald?" Felicia asks.

"Calm yourself. He is very much alive, but you need not worry about him attempting to take the CEO position from you," Gustav promises her.

"I can handle myself, Mr. Fiers. Tell Harry that the next time you visit him in Ravencroft. I trust you can show yourself out?" Felicia asks him.

"Of course," he complies. He finishes his drink and exits Felicia's apartment.

Felicia stares at the door and then at various sections of her apartment. Maybe she's being paranoid, but she has a feeling Gustav might have bugged her place. She thinks about checking for any bugs, but figures that Gustav will probably just bug it again if she removes them. She decides to leave well enough alone for now.

**To Be Continued...**


	3. Who to trust

**A/N: Sorry for the delay, everyone. I've been waiting for the right inspiration to hit me, but you didn't come here for my excuses. You came here for the next part of the story. Enjoy. :)**

Felicia's alarm goes off. She opens her eyes and shuts the thing off. It is fairly early in the morning, but she is still riding off the success of the press conference from yesterday to feel tired. She gets out of bed and quickly goes through her morning routine to prepare for work. As she goes through it, she wonders how much of her apartment must've been bugged by Gustav Fiers.

Sure she possesses no proof that he did such a thing, but she doubts he broke into apartment to extend his congratulations when he simply could've done so at the press conference. Then again, he could've watched the conference on T.V. and then decided to break in. Thinking about this just hurt Felicia's head and she decides to drop it again for now.

After Felicia finishes getting ready for work, she exits her apartment and locks her door; subsequently wondering if that would do any good given Gustav's break in.

* * *

"PARKER!? Where the heck is he!?" J. Jonah Jameson bellows at the Daily Bugle Staff.

"I'm sure he'll be here any second now," Robbie assures him.

"You said that 15 minutes ago," Jameson replies.

"Remind me, why haven't you fired him?" Betty asks as Jameson paces around her desk.

"Because he's the only person in the entire city that can get a decent shot of that wall crawling menace, but I swear if he isn't here in the next 30 seconds…"

"Fear not, Mr. Jameson! I have arrived!" Peter loudly announces behind his boss making him jump and almost lose his balance.

"Peter? What happened to you?" Betty asks noticing his black eye.

"Oh, I had a mild altercation with a pizza delivery guy. They can get pretty violent if you accidentally slow them down though I got the last laugh since punching my lights out cost him further valuable time."

"This is no time for jokes! My office! Now!" Jameson orders.

Betty mouths the words "good luck" to Peter as he enters Jameson's office. He smiles at her then takes a seat while Jameson continues pacing around.

"Ok, if you want any shots of Spider-Man," Peter starts.

"I didn't bring you in here to talk about Spider-Man," Jameson cuts him off.

"Are you feeling ok sir? You're not a clone or anything are you?" Jameson stares daggers at Peter and he shuts up immediately.

"Listen Parker, I want you to focus on getting photos dealing with Oscorp. I know it's not your favorite place in the city, but they've really become news since that Hardy woman took over."

"I can handle it," Peter says.

_Don't make promises you can't keep, Peter hears in the back of his mind._

"I would hope so, or you'll find yourself looking for another job," Jameson threatens. "That is all." Peter nods and exits Jameson's office.

"So, how'd it go?" Betty asks him.

"Oh, the usual though Jameson only threatened to fire me once. I choose to believe that he thinks I'm good at my job and is only threatening me to ensure I always do my best." Peter says. He and Betty stare at each other then burst out laughing.

* * *

"Good morning, gentlemen," Felicia greets the members of the board. Predictably none of them respond to her. "Any questions before we get down to business?"

"Yes. When do you plan to release the weapons from the vault?" One of the board members ask.

"I said we're keeping the weapons under lock and key until further notice and I meant it."

"What!?" Someone shouts.

"I'd watch the tone you take with me," she threatens.

"You must be bluffing," the man states.

"I don't bluff."

"Gentlemen, Miss Hardy has made her decision and we must respect it," someone else says.

"Thank you, Mister Fisk," Felicia thanks one of the newer members of the board.

Wilson Fisk came in around the same time that Donald disappeared. Felicia does not think the timing is coincidental and believes either Harry or Gustav has something to do with it. But the best thing Felicia can do is just go with it, especially since Fisk seems to be on her side.

"Why continue to keep the weapons locked away?" Someone else asks.

"Because that's what I told the press and I think it'd be in this company's best interests that I keep my word. Remember, it's those very weapons that got us into the mess we're currently in. We don't need any more media scandals. When the city trusts us, that's when the weapons will finally be released and only then. I'm almost tempted to halt any bio-experiments, but they can be used to our advantage. We can show the city that for every Harry Osborn or Lizard, there's a Spider-Man."

"You really believe that Spider-Man was created from one of this company's experiments?" Another members asks.

"What other explanation is there?" Wilson asks. "Even if he is not, it would probably be in this company's best interests to…imply that he was. Wouldn't you agree, Miss Hardy?"

"Perhaps, but not yet. As I already said let's work on regaining the city's trust first. Let's also use that time to learn whatever we can about Spider-Man. Who knows. Maybe we could even get him to work with us."

"Yes. Perhaps we could," Fisk agrees. After a few more things are discussed, the meeting is adjourned. Felicia is the last in the room and is about to leave when someone knocks on the door.

"Come in." The door opens; it's Alistair.

"Hello, Alistair. What is it?"

"Miss Hardy," he starts and Felicia laughs.

"I'm Felicia to you, remember? Well, when we aren't in front of others anyway." Alistair clears his throat and starts over.

"Felicia, I was just wondering if my research must also remain confiscated in the vault."

"For now, yes." Alistair appears stunned by her answer, but regains his composure quickly.

"Why? You do trust me, don't you?" Felicia puts a comforting arm on Alistair's shoulder.

"Of course I do. It's the members of the board that I don't and until I figure which ones are clean, you have to trust me that keeping your research in the vault is for the best. The last thing we'd want is for it to wind up in the wrong hands."

"That's true. Thank you for your time, Felicia." Alistair turns and leaves the board room. Felicia sighs and makes a mental note to keep an eye on him.

**A/N: Ok so not much happened in this chapter, but trust me the best is yet to come. See you next time everyone!**


End file.
